Today, we at Knight Edge Media have been told exclusively that Irish actor Peter Claffey has been cast as Hank McCoy/Beast in the Marvel Studios X-Men reboot. The actor rose to fame for playing Sir Duncan the Tall in HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Charles Melton dropped out of the running to star as Kakashi Hatake in the Naruto live-action movie. Melton tried to make both projects work by re-teaming with director Jake Schreier for D23, but simply couldn’t. Many fans began fancasting Claffey as Beast after Jeff Sneider first rumored him back in April (via The InSneider).
Kelsey Grammer made the role famous in 2007’s X-Men: The Last Stand and returns in this year’s Avengers: Doomsday from the 20th Century Fox universe. Nicholas Hoult also played a younger version of the character in the X-Men: First Class trilogy. The rest of the X-Men cast includes Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier, Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Asa Germann as Angel, and Maya Boyd as Storm. Adam Driver will star as the main villain, Mister Sinister. Production is expected to begin in the UK sometime in early 2027.
Marvel Studios could not be reached for a comment.
X-Men is currently slated to hit theaters on May 5th, 2028
- Irish actor Peter Claffey has been exclusively cast as Hank McCoy/Beast in the upcoming Marvel Studios X-Men reboot.
- The star-studded cast features Christopher Abbott as Professor Charles Xavier and Adam Driver as the villain Mister Sinister.
- Production for the highly anticipated film is scheduled to begin in the UK in early 2027 before hitting theaters in 2028.
